September 2016 – Page 2 – While Busy Making Other Plans …

rDay Five-Hundred-Fifty

Early morning drive along Foothill Road and hiking around Ladd Marsh to see the “golden” light.

rDay Five-Hundred-Forty-Nine

Kim takes camera in hand to document special apparel adopted to protect a medically-treated area …

And, for some contrast, something discovered during the “Mostly Venice” exploration from 1974 …

Guess it shouldn’t be surprising that I keep running into old photos from my years in Venice. I lived there for quite a few years in a couple of stretches, as well as nearby Santa Monica and elsewhere in westside LA. Here I unearth for the first time a bunch of negatives from a box marked “mostly Venice”. (also see previous posts about Venice)

From the Apartment on Speedway, Looking Out to the Boardwalk and Beach

Trip to Yosemite, 1974

Documenting parts of a trip up the coast then over to Yosemite National Park. From previously undiscovered, unprocessed negatives.

Abandoned in a National Park Laundromat?

rDay Five-Hundred-Forty-Seven

Walking back from a 103 visit in light rain. I know that most people find this kind of thing pretty boring, but I like to see the subtle sky tones under these circumstances …

Currently Read or Heard or Viewed, and Recommended

A few people have asked recently, so here goes …

After finishing the Filth trilogy, we read more of Jane Gardam, this time The Queen of the Tambourine (said to have won the Whitbread Prize for Novel of the Year). Will probably seek out more Jane Gardam in the future; she’s written a ton of stuff.

Kim is reading The Orphan Master’s Son, and I am awaiting a version on Kindle.

At the moment I am off to a good start on Gloria Steinem’s My Life On The Road. Found both its Prelude and Introduction highly enjoyable.

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A special treat is to go to the local library every few days and just browse and loiter. As there’s only time to read on an occasional basis — what with the news and commentary online at NYT, Quartz, Politico, etc. sites, and not to mention email and other stuff from the Outer Interwebz — sometimes we have to relax the eyes and just listen. Our noontime favorite is probably Terry Gross’ Fresh Air and then there is always Kai Ryssdal’s Marketplace podcast as an evening prelude to evening news.

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On another note, the Roku is malfunctioning and we are recently also having trouble getting a decent digital TV signal over our antenna. As a result, we have basically abandoned the TV device itself. Instead, we are watching Netflix and Amazon and PBS on YouTube via the largest computer screens in the house. Maybe we don’t need the TV set itself at all. Recent recommends would be the latest season of the outrageous crime-solving abilities of Idris Elba’s character in Luther (Netflix) and Tig Notaro’s dark humor in One Mississippi (Amazon). And we are in the middle of Chef’s Table: France, having gone through the original Chef’s Table series on Netflix earlier this year. Also taking a look at The Kettering Incident, a BBC thing set in Tasmania, highly visual, somewhat overwrought, slightly reminiscent of Twin Peaks.

rDay Five-Hundred-Forty-Four

Up early to make an appointment at the extreme end of Island City. What should have lasted no more than one hour turned into three, so after already walking the neighborhood for an hour and a half to kill time while waiting, finally gave up and walked home. For another one and a half hour’s walk. Here are few things seen along the way.

rDay Five-Hundred-Forty-Three

Special day here. Olivia came by, fresh from her weekend in Canada. She did a stopover in Seattle to connect with Ivi, then they proceeded to a suburb of Vancouver, BC, where Olivia’s intended was coaching a football match. Back home this afternoon, Olivia dropped off a package of goodies from Trader Joe’s that Ivi had assembled for us. And Ivi also called to recount the details of their whirlwind foreign escapade and confirmed that they successfully passed the international border crossing interrogation and checklist.

Later, we took the Horrendous Hound for his customary afternoon walk and mostly saw two very large piles of dirt at the school’s new construction site. And a couple of other sights.

rDay Five-Hundred-Forty-One

Eight laps around the soccer fields; all is well.

rDay Five-Hundred-Forty

Today, a trip out of the valley, up the mountain pass and on into Baker City, cowboy country. Visited the St. Al’s (HQ’d in Boise) satellite at the Baker City Hospital complex, involving the usual wait, along with bad and strange art on the walls and cell phone conversations by others. But the staff was cheerful and efficient, as we have come to expect from St. Al’s. They did take our money.

Returned by way of Haines (pop. 416) and Hwy 30, affording an opportunity, if you can call it that, for Windshield Photography.

Later on, walked The Charles downtown while some shopping was addressed. Spotted a variety of getaway vehicles, ranging from a 1985 Chevy Dolphin motor home to a T@B teardrop trailer towed by a newish Range Rover Evoque. Kim and Charlie surveyed the grounds of a downtown church. And back home again.